Exploring the Extent of Variance in the Development, Prognosis, and Outcome Between Primary and Secondary Cardiac Tumours: A Systematic Review

This review highlights the role of genetics and cellular changes within cardiac muscle in explaining the low prevalence of cardiac tumours, and the preferential development of specific neoplastic subtypes as compared to others. The varying features of primary and secondary cardiac neoplasms are highlighted, with an extended focus on the paediatric population. By analysing past literature, medical interventions, prognostic outcomes, and pathophysiological mechanisms behind cardiac neoplasms are identified. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and employed a thorough Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) search; 18 studies were included in the final analysis. We applied our inclusion criteria to retrieve studies in the English language published from 2000 to 2025. This review primarily includes human studies, with some evidence from animal studies, which were peer-reviewed and are available as full texts. Overall data on 628 patients with cardiac neoplasms were included to discuss the divergent properties of primary cardiac tumours (PCTs) and metastatic cardiac tumours (MCTs). The paper discusses the properties of cellular division within cardiac cells and analyses the properties of muscle cells to explain the mechanism behind the low prevalence of cardiac cancers.